THIS WEEKEND The
boy wizard is as hot as ever. Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the blockbuster fantasy
series, debuted with $93.7M, according to final
studio figures, generating the third-best opening weekend in history. Warner
Bros. launched the PG-rated film in 3,855 theaters (including Imax locations)
and averaged a spectacular $24,303 per playdate. That gave Azkaban
the best debut in the series beating the $90.3M of 2001's The
Sorcerer's Stone and the $88.4M of 2002's The
Chamber of Secrets. Adjusting for ticket price increases, total
admissions for Azkaban probably trailed
its two predecessors by a small margin.

With a new director (Alfonso Cuaron) and a new summer release date,
the latest Potter pic was still able
to tap into the multitudes of fans who for the most part are still as interested
as ever in seeing their favorite wizard live out his stories on the big
screen. Among Friday-to-Sunday opening weekend grosses, Azkaban's
tally trails only Spider-Man's $114.8M
and Shrek 2's $108M.

The third wizard tale also cast a spell on box offices around the world
grossing $113.5M from 7,885 screens in 24 countries since its debut last
Monday in its first market, the United Kingdom. Ranking number one everywhere
it is playing, key market grosses included a record $43.5M in one week
in the UK, $16.4M from France and $15.3M in Germany.

After two weeks at number one, Shrek 2 settled
for second place but held up well considering it was coming off of a holiday
frame and faced intense competition from Harry
Potter. The DreamWorks ogre sequel grossed $37.9M, off 47%,
and boosted its runaway cume to a staggering $314.5M. That makes Shrek
2 the fastest film in history to surpass the $300M mark doing
it in just 18 days beating Spider-Man's
record by four full days. The meet-the-parents toon tale zoomed up to number
14 on the all-time domestic blockbusters chart just ahead of The
Fellowship of the Ring which grossed $314.2M. Shrek
2 is on course to leap over the $400M hurdle and become one
of the top five movies of all time.

After a powerful opening weekend over the Memorial Day holiday session,
Fox's disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow
was struck by the biggest fall in the top ten crumbling 60% to $27.9M.
After ten days, the Roland Emmerich-directed ice age pic has grossed a
stunning $128.5M and should find its way to $180-190M domestically. Overseas,
Tomorrow hauled in an estimated $53.3M
from 9,500 screens in 112 markets lifting the two-week cume to a massive
$178.5M easily outdistancing domestic. Global gross stands at a potent
$307M and still warming rapidly.

In its second weekend, the Kate Hudson comedy Raising
Helen dropped an acceptable 40% to $6.6M for a ten-day cume
of $24.1M. The Buena Vista release should find its way to a mediocre $45M.

Brad Pitt and company took fifth place with the epic actioner Troy
which grossed $6M falling 50% from last weekend. The Warner
Bros. title has grossed $119.3M in 24 days and is headed for a domestic
finish in the area of $135M. Overseas, Troy brought
in an estimated $23.3M from 8,676 screens in 58 markets. That gives the
$175M-budgeted film an international cume of $265.2M and an impressive
worldwide tally to date of $384.6M with the quadruple-century mark looking
to fall by next weekend.

Paramount's Mean Girls dipped 42%
to $2.9M for a $78.2M total thus far. MGM followed with $2.8M for the comedy
Soul Plane which dropped 51% in its
second weekend leaving a ten-day gross of $11M. A $16-18M final seems likely.

Tumbling 54% to $2.4M was the summer kickoff pic Van
Helsing which boosted its domestic cume to $114.6M. The Universal
monster flick is losing steam fast overseas due to intense competition
from Troy and Harry
Potter. Its international weekend estimate stood at just $4.5M
lifting the overseas take to $139M and the worldwide sum to a good $253M.

Fox's Man on Fire grossed $1M, off
54%, for a cume of $75.4M. Rounding out the top ten was the indie hit documentary
Super Size Me with $842,684. Down only
22%, the Roadside/Goldwyn release has collected $6.2M to date and enjoyed
its third consecutive week in the ten spot.

The top ten films grossed an enormous $182M which was up 18% from last
year when 2 Fast 2 Furious debuted
at number one with $50.5M; and up an astounding 82% from 2002 when The
Sum Of All Fears stayed on top with $19.2M.

Compared to projections, Harry Potter
was on target with my $93M forecast.

For a review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban visit The
Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday
for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when The
Stepford Wives, Garfield,
and The Chronicles of Riddick all open.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.

Last Updated : June
7, 2004 at 5:00PM EDT

Gitesh Pandya can be seen each Friday on "The
Biz" airing at 12:30pm ET on CNNfn.